A great white shark swimming only 75 yards from the shore was spotted on Monday. More than 1,000 swimmers and beach goers were immediately told to get out of the water while the shark was in the vicinity.

Air 2, a Massachusetts State Police helicopter, reported the sighting at 2 p.m. to the Duxbury Police and Duxbury harbormaster. The shark was said to have been swimming just outside the floating buoys delineating the swimming area of the beach from the open ocean.

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Duxbury Beach is normally an unusual place for a shark sighting, according to Amy Mahler, spokesperson for  the Department of Fish and Game. Although there have been dozens of sightings reported over the summer, sharks usually stay on the outer cape.  

A scientist from the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries confirmed through pictures and videos of the shark that it was a 14-foot great white -- the second one spotted off the coast of Massachusetts in only two days, and the biggest officials have seen so far this year.  

State police monitored the shark from the air while two boats surrounded it to gently coax it away from the beach. The local harbourmasters of Duxbury, Plymoth, and Marshfield, with the U.S. Coast Guard, patrolled the area to make sure there were no other sharks in the area.

Officials reported that the shark swam into deeper waters towards the southeast as soon as the boats began to approach it. 

The beach was re-opened two hours later at 4 p.m., with the advisory that swimmers should only go into the water waist deep and they were doing so at their own risks.

No injuries were reported during the incident aside from some spooked families and swimmers who said that the great white shark came a little too close to the shore than they would like. 

TagsGreat white shark, swimmers evacuated, Massachusetts